Breakfast at the Fullerton

     Breakfast is as decadent as dinner at the Fullerton. The dessert table was replaced by pastries, the bread and cheese table was replaced with both plain and duck congee, a rice porridge, and fixings for it like green onion, various sauces, and dried onion and fish bits. The customizable pasta station was replaced by an egg station. The noodle counter was replaced with Indian food. Instead of a salad bar, there was fresh fruit, cold cereal, cold cuts and cheeses, and fruit salads. There was also a Singaporean breakfast counter. The chafing dishes were full of breakfasty things like bacon and sausage. There was also complimentary coffee/tea and juices. 

Church

     Being the good Christians that we are, we went to church on Sunday morning. We walked maybe half a mile from our hotel to the 150+ year old church, St. Andrew's Cathedral, one of the first buildings in Singapore. Service was at 11:15, right after the Mandarin service. We arrived around 10:45 or 11:00, and the Mandarin service was still going on. It was packed. It was packed enough to where people were sitting outside because there weren't enough chairs. While we waited, we met an elderly lady who had traveled to Singapore all her life. Her first time to Singapore was from England on a ship when Singapore was still an English territory. She told us a little about the history of the church, and of the island itself. 

     St. Andrew's Cathedral was built around 1856. It is the third St. Andrews Cathedral to be built in Singapore as the first two were destroyed by both lightening strikes and by rumors of unhappy spirits. The church itself is huge and bright white on the inside. Before the service, we went to the restroom, and the inside looks like it hasn't been updated in a few decades. 

     The inside of the church is quite large. I'd say that the main nave could fit around 300 people in its seats. Oh, and there are no pews, at least not what we think of pews. The "pews" are pretty much rows of connected chairs. There are 5 or 6 decent sized chairs with woven wicker bottoms and backs in a row, and there are, I'd say, 30-40 rows. And there is a second room connected to the main nave with about 75 people in it. And on top of the pews, there are smaller pews on the sides of the building, disconnected from the main rows by pillars. There are TV monitors and speakers throughout the building to show the priest and his vicar/rector, I don't know which. They each have microphones. 

     The vicar/rector was pretty much the guide during the service. Because Singapore is a popular vacation spot, there are always a few first-timers, and the vicar/rector guides the congregation through the service. Not only did the video of the speakers play on the monitors, but there were also the words for hymns, and prayers. 

     After the service, we wandered around the park across the river from the hotel, went to the hotel and changed, and went to the small hawker center we visited yesterday for lunch. Dad had fried rice, I had fish ball and noodle soup, and Rebecca had some sort of curry soup. 

Asian Civilization Museum

     This was before the pool and after Chinatown, just for context. 

     This has to be one of the best historical museums I have been too. There were hundreds of really neat pieces from Japan, China, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the various islands nearby. The museum is divided into cultures, and talks about technological improvements, cultural ideas, religious movements, and other major facets of a civilization. 

     The exhibit that we had gone to see was called Devotion and Desire: Cross-Cultural Art in Asia, and was pretty much a chance for the museum to show off what new pieces they got. Some themes of the exhibit were spread of religion, importance of trade, court art, and colonial influences. Another cool part was the room focused on lacquer from different parts of Asia. It's quite a remarkable procedure. It's not just painting a layer of stain onto the piece of wood, it requires weeks or months of work. Everything has to be done slowly and carefully and repeatedly. 

     The museum was pretty handy because it was just across the river from our hotel, and Rebecca got to buy Liz a pretty shirt, and got herself a woven carpet mousepad. It was a real, albeit miniature carpet on top of some nice mousepad material. It was a nice museum. I'd go again and wouldn't mind. 

Forum Seafood and Graffiti Tunnel

Chilli Crabs

     People told us the thing to eat in Singapore, if you were to only eat one thing, is chilli crabs. All it is is crab, specifically crab legs on a platter covered in the sauce. I thought that the sauce was red and burn-your-face-off spicy, but instead, it's brown and sweetish. Anyway, we were walking along the the bank of the river, which is packed to the gills with restaurants and pubs and bars, trying to pick out a suitable restaurant to eat our chilli crabs. 

     As we walk, there are all sorts of restaurants along the bank, reflecting the diversity of Singapore. There is Indian, Middle Eastern, Chinese, Japanese, English, French, bakeries, bars, dance halls, maybe an ice cream shop or two, and plenty of seafood restaurants. We walk down a ways because the plan was to walk all the way down, decide, and find it on the way back. As we walked past the second Forum Seafood, the hostess or caller or both invites us in so that we can catch the Independence Day practice fireworks, and that there is an up to 60% off deal on their dishes. We were kind of tired of walking, and we snatch a table on the edge of the water. 

     We order grilled tiger prawns, kangkong, and chilli crab. There were 8 or 9 different varieties of crab to choose from, from Alaskan King, to some local crabs. Note: you had to buy crab per 100g. We asked the waiter how much was typical for a family of 3, and he said 2-3 kilos, but since we got extra stuff, 1.5 kilos should be enough. The alaskan king cost, with the discount, SP$18.80 per 100g. It turned out to be an expensive meal. 

     While we were ordering, I couldn't concentrate, because that was when they started to do the fireworks. Shortly after the fireworks finished, the Marina Bay Sands does a laser light show. Dad joked that the laser people let kids go and play with the controls because they were quite erratic. 

    The prawns were delicious, the shells were nice and crunchy; the kangkong had shrimp paste or something cooked with them, and finally, the crab came out with perfect wonderbread. Before the crab came out, one of the waitresses put on crab aprons for us, and we got scissors to cut open the shells. The crab came out on a giant platter, absolutely covered in the sauce. The body of the crab was hollowed out and filled with leg segments. The crab was crazy hot, and yet perfectly cooked. With the crab came three little rolls, each dark brown all over, and yet perfectly white on the inside. It was a fantastic meal. 

      After the meal, Dad and Rebecca wanted to show me a graffiti tunnel. It was interesting because it was all one color scheme: red, black, grey, and white, so it was all one person. Singapore is against any kind of vandalism, and every available space in the tunnel had some sort of design on it, so it must have been government-funded as some sort of propaganda thing. Another interesting thing was that there was a guy playing guitar for change. In any other city, it would have been normal, but in Singapore, they probably would have fined him or kicked him out or something, so maybe he is an employee somewhere. 

The Pool

     We had gotten home from Chinatown around 3 or 4, and Rebecca wanted to make use of the hotel pool that overlooked the river. We change and head out. It's a fairly small pool, about 10-12 feet wide and 60 feet long, and 3-4 feet deep. There were quite a few small children screaming and playing and giggling, their parents watching from the poolside. Rebecca ordered caipirinhas for herself and for Dad, a Brazilian drink consisting of rum, simple syrup, and citrus. These came with a stick of rock candy in place of the simple syrup. 

     Dad kept up the hydrophobia, refusing to get in the pool; Rebecca tried to do laps but there were kids in the way, and I just kind of bobbed around, never really committing to anything. But the cool thing was not the pool, but what happened while we were at the pool. 

     Singapore's Independence Day is August 9th. They go above and beyond and have flyovers and cool militaristic maneuvers, as well as fireworks for Independence Day. Turns out, they also practice. While we were at the pool, there were first 3 helicopters, with the largest flying the flag underneath it. The helicopters were a Chinook, the big carrier helicopters, and 2 Blackhawks flying to its sides. Shortly after that, there were 4 F-16s flying in formation practically touching the skyscrapers. After they flew away, there were booms that Rebecca said were sonic booms. Then, after that, there were lots of booms. Rebecca said that there were too many to be sonic booms, and that they were probably artillery from the ships. There were a couple more fly-byes after that. Darn cool. 

     There were also fireworks that night as we had dinner, but more on that later. 

Chinatown!

     We had already decided that we were going to go to both Chinatown and Little India this weekend and it was time to visit Chinatown. After a big day at the aquarium and a small breakfast, we were hungry. We decided that we were going to have lunch in Chinatown and then shop and head back home and see where the day took us. Luckily, on the MRT, one of the stops is called "Chinatown" so it hardly requires much thought on how to get there

      When we arrive, it's as touristy as it gets. Red lanterns everywhere, shops selling Singapore souvenirs, Chinese stuff that is aimed at tourists, restaurants everywhere, lots of boutiques selling cheap clothes, the works. On the Chinatown map in the MRT station, there is a place on Smith St. labeled as a food market. We made our way there and were greeted with a big shopping complex. Rebecca was flustered about the directions and where we were and how it didn't match up with the map and how things weren't how they were supposed to be, Dad was trying to simultaneously calm her down and figure out where we were, and I went to ask a lady in a clothes stall where the food center was. She said upstairs. We made our way to the middle of the stall conglomeration, one lady with clothes, another with jewelry, the guy next to her had watches, whatever you wanted, it was there. 

    We found an elevator, pushed the up button and waited for our ride up. In the meantime, a woman coming downstairs asked us if we were looking for the food market. We replied yes, and she said it was on the second floor. We thank her for her help and make our way up. As we go up the stairs, we can smell all sorts of food, it sounds like there are hundreds of people in this space, and it's every tourist's dream. It's an enormous area. There probably were in fact hundreds of people in there, even thousands. There were probably enough food stalls for everyone to get his own. 

       I found a dim sum place and spent SP$10 (each dish was SP$2), Dad and Rebecca went to a different place and got two medium sized dishes that were both enormous. I got chicken feet, short rib, shrimps wrapped in sheets of rice gelatin stuff, shrimp puffs and a "carrot cake". Note: not a carrot cake like we think of it. It was more like the rice gelatin stuff formed into a patty with bits of carrot. Dad and Rebecca got a fried rice dish and a different "carrot cake". Theirs was more of a scrambled egg with stuff. 

     After we finished eating, we headed outside and did some shopping. I mostly shopped for myself, like the selfish teenager I am. I got a bronze ox and an black ox seal. Rebecca got me a Singapore fine shirt that has pictures of famously ridiculous misdemeanors. She also got her 2 and a half year old niece a pink chinese shirt and pants. Dad was lured into a tailors and got two really nice custom shirts and a pair of pants. 

Saturday Breakfast

     I forgot to write about this earlier. Saturday morning, we wanted to get some cheap local eats. We wandered around the area, finding mostly upscale coffee shops and the like, until we happened upon a hawker center. We were unsure about whether or not the place was open as most of the stalls were empty and the few that were open were prepping for the day. I convinced Dad and Rebecca that this was the place to go. 

     Singaporean traditional breakfast is soft-boiled eggs and toast. Dad and Rebecca got this at one of the open stalls while I made my way to a noodle and soup stand. For SP$3.80, I got a big bowl of soup with noodles and bok choy and ground meat and little dried fish bits on top. It was pretty delicious. Dad and Rebecca meanwhile each had a soft-boiled egg that was arguably raw, a little piece of grilled bread, and a cup of coffee. I don't remember how much theirs cost, but I think that the two of them equalled the cost of my meal. Delicious. 

Warning sign

Cable car

    In order to get back to the mainland, as Resort World is an island, we decided to take the cable car back. There was a bus that takes you from the aquarium to the building that houses one of the cable car stops. The ticket booth is inside of a gift shop, and if someone didn't tell us about it, we would never have known. 

    The terminal for the cars is on the 15th floor, and you get out and it's an open area. As the cars are in the terminal, they go slowly, so you can get in/get out. There is a warning sign that tells you what not to do in the car, things like eating and drinking, smoking, throwing children out, etc. Once the car leaves the terminal, it speeds up quite a bit and off you go, looking down on the harbor and the outskirts of Singapore. I didn't get any pictures except of the warning sign because my phone battery died in three hours while on internet mode, and the camera decides not to work with low battery. 

     I have to say that it was pretty breathtaking. Looking down on the city from a dozen stories up is pretty neat. There are giant concrete poles extending hundreds of feet in the air that the cable car wire connects to so you can go from Resort World to the next building that lets you get on the island, and then to a fancy hotel or restaurant or bar, I couldn't tell which, and it loops around. We went from Resort World to the fancy place and got off on the middle building on the way back to prolong our stay on the car. 

The Aquarium

     The original plan was to go to the famous Singapore Zoo on Saturday morning. However, it was raining that morning. We decided to instead head to the aquarium in Resort World. Resort World is an Asian hotel/casino/entertainment place chain. Think Disney World without all of the beloved characters.

     We arrive via taxi and the place is practically deserted. There is no one there except the people at the ticket counter and the guy with a phone cover stand. When you enter, the first exhibit is touching things like stingrays and other largish fish. There is also a little fish food dispenser and tanks that you can stick your hands into and let fish nibble at your fingertips. The next room, I thought was the neatest in a scientific kind of way. It had species of fish and water dwelling creatures who were not themselves millions of years old, but their species was. For example, there was a kind of pig-nosed turtle, there were man-sized fish with scales the size of my palm, there were a couple trilobites, and some giant stingray predecessors. There was a small side room highlighting a small arctic jellyfish. It's a tiny little thing that only lives in below freezing water. It's photoluminescent and is one of those animals that switches genders.

   The next room was full of crabs and octopi. They had giant Japanese Spider crabs in their exhibit. Definitely the creepiest crab I have ever seen. When they say giant, they mean giant. Those things were at least a few feet big, hairy, with legs the length of my forearm, at least. Another highlight of the aquarium was the tunnel with a slow moving travelator. It was one of the stereotypical, tunnel made of glass, under a giant fish tank. There were sharks and very large groupers and one fish and two fish and red fish and blue fish and as many fish as you like.

     Finally, the last thing we did was see a pink dolphin/sea lion show. Yes, I said it. Pink dolphins. They are much more like manatees than dolphins. They look like dolphins with almost complete vitiligo (the Michael Jackson disease). It was your average jump through the hoop and hit the ball show. One of the interesting things was all over the area, there were female peacocks on the rooftops or walking around. You can tell that they are female because they don't have the plumage that you would associate with a peacock. 

Dinner pictures

Fullerton Dinner Buffet

     We had two choices: grill or no grill. There was a grill outside cooking up tasty things like lamb chops and steaks, etc. That was SP$20 extra. We opted for the inside only option, which was plenty. Both meals came with as many half-lobsters as you liked. 

     Salad Bar: There were various types of leaves, a few types of dressings, add-ons like baby carrots, beet slices, sugar peas, and other high quality raw vegetable pieces. There was also raw and cooked shellfish. For example, raw oysters imported from Brittany, France, which were quite good. There were whole prawns, scallops in the shell, clams, and mussels. 

     Noodle Station: Although we sat next to it, I don't remember much about this station. I do remember that there were a few types of noodles to pick from, and various sauces that you could pour on after the chef handed you the bowl back. You could probably pick whether or not they were stir-fried or boiled, whether or not to add meat and eggs, and whether or not there was broth. 

    Indian Station: I didn't notice this little stand until we were done eating and going for dessert. I spotted a few types of curries, some naan, and aromatic rice.

    Japanese Station: I didn't go over there at all, but at one point, Dad came back with either sashimi or a roll. I'm guessing that there was also traditional Japanese fare like miso soup and some stuff that I haven't heard of. 

     Side Table: This wasn't a table full of sides, but rather a small table next to the main table. It had things like nuts and cheese and various types of bread and I think gravy for the bread. 

     Main Table: It was a big hollow oval with 2 or 3 chefs manning the various stations. There was a guy manning the roast duck, roast pork belly, and roast pork station. Picture a Chinese restaurant with the hanging ducks. That's what this was, and a guy with a small cutting block and a big knife. There was a steamer section with sio mai which are the small cylindrical parcels of meat and dumplings of various sorts. There were also several chafing dishes and a make your own pasta dish. Make your own as in tell the guy what to put in the dish.

     Dessert Tables: The first table had a chocolate fountain and various items to dip such as fruit and sweet breads. There was also a cooler with ice cream. The second table had prepared desserts. There were large dishes with things like tiramisu, apple cobbler, and a pie. There were also little individual shot glasses full of desserts like chocolate mousse and a fresh berry trifle. Yum. 

Bay pictures

A Walk

     As dinner was at 7:00, and it was around 5:30, so we had time to kill. We decided to take a walk around the area and see the bay. The Fullerton had an underground tunnel that led outside and the first thing that you see when you get outside is the Marina Bay Sands, which is the premier hotel of the area. It looks like a really long, flat ship balanced on top of three pillars. All along the coast are nice sit-down restaurants and coffee shops and bars and ice cream shops and the like. Also on the island that the Marina Bay Sands is sitting on are luxury designer shops in modern glass buildings. There is also a kind of hand/shell like structure that turns out to be a museum.

    We wandered along the coast line until we happened upon the famous Singapore Merlion. It is a lion's head atop a fish body. The fish body represents Singapore's beginnings as a fishing village and the lion represents Singapore's original name, "Singapura" which means lion city. We took the requisite touristy pictures and continued on our way. We crossed a bridge and got to the other side of the coastal area. Once we were on that side we heard some darn good marching band music toward the floating stadium. It turns out that that was an official ceremony that was closed off to the public. Also on that side was a small stage, the music hall, and a westernized hawker center. I say westernized because it seemed to target more tourists than natives. That isn't to say that there weren't plenty of Singaporeans there.

     By that time it was already around 6:30, so it was time to head back. We got back to the hotel via 150 year old foot bridge left in place by the British.

    Singapore is a beautiful city. On those first few hours alone, I recommend it to all. 

Hotel pictures

The Fullerton Hotel

    As I mentioned earlier, we were booked at a swank hotel. We were booked at the Fullerton Hotel, which is located where the river empties out into the bay. The Fullerton Hotel was previously the British Post Office when Singapore was still a British territory. It was just recently redone into a hotel. 

    The inside is just gorgeous. It looks very much like a 19th century British post office should on both the outside and inside, and on the inside there are some modern touches like small modern paintings and a glass fountain. Dad booked two rooms, because he said that this wasn't the beach and he did not want to share a room with me. However, the website that he booked rooms with for some reason didn't work completely, so the hotel only had his room booked. Apparently, the hotel was completely full, and only after 20 or 30 minutes of working it out did the clerk have both rooms ready for us. In the meantime, all three of us were hungry as it was around 5 o'clock. We headed on over first to the in-house chinese restaurant, which was closed. We then headed on over to the restaurant on the other side which during meal times becomes an incredible buffet. We ordered a plate of pretty tasty noodles for the three of us to share. Approximately when our meal ended, both of our rooms were ready, and we headed up to the third floor where they were located. My room was number 361 and their room was number 359. We went through the main elevator, nearest room number 301, so we had to walk in a circle until we arrived at our rooms where there was a nearby elevator that we didn't previously know about. 

      My room smelled like smoke. Not delicious hardwood smoke, but nasty cigarette smoke. It was pretty strong, but I quickly adjusted and didn't notice after a while. Dad had ordered adapters for the rooms, and when the guy arrived with them, I asked for someone to clean the room. He came back later with an ozonator, which helped a little. However much it helped, every time I walked in after leaving for a while, I could smell the smoke, and every time Dad entered the room, he commented on the stink. But hey, I had my own room, and a nice one at that. In the room was a bathroom equipped with both a shower and a bathtub, the toilet was in a little room connected to the main bathroom, and a sink with a mirror wall with a large circular mirror with a magnifying mirror attached. The bedroom had either a double or queen bed with only a comforter and 4 very puffy pillows. There were two bedside tables, the one on the left had a switch to open the curtains and to turn the lights off. There was also a TV and a DVD player. There was a valet, which is a stand to lay out clothes on. There was a desk with a notepad and a very nice pen, which they let me keep, in the drawer were some office supplies. Each morning, they would bring up a newspaper, varying by nationality. There was also a minibar with sodas and on top were snacks and teabags and things of that nature. There was also a closet with an umbrella, and bathrobes and some hangers. 

Airport pictures

Going to SINGAPORE!

   For our trip to Singapore, Dad booked us on a super cheap Australian airline called Jetstar. It was something like $70 per person. Because he booked cheap plane flights, we were able to get a pretty swank hotel, but more on that later. Now when I say cheap, I mean cheap. You have to pay for everything except a carry-on weighing no more than 10 kg (22 lbs). You have to pay for checked baggage, for a drink of water, for a little bag of peanuts, for everything. But it wasn't that bad. It was only a three hour flight, and we brought a bag of shrimp chips and some dried mangos. 

    When we got to the Manila International Airport, the Jetstar line was by far the longest. It was super long because there was no one at the counter. There were two separate lines. One was for regular check-in at the airport, and that line was incredibly long, and we stood in it for a while before we realized that there was a separate line for online check-in. Thankfully, there were only a few people in that line and we continued to the light security and on to our gate. Dad had already changed all of our cash to Singaporean dollars because of a rule stating that you couldn't have more than P10,000 or its equivalent on a flight. Because we were out of cash, we couldn't buy any food or coffee while we waited the two hours we sat at our gate. There was a large TV playing NBA TV at our gate. Filipinos are very much into basketball. I'd say that the majority of airport TV's play NBA TV. 

     We landed in Singapore and it was the nicest airport that I have been to. We take a stop in the bathroom, and it's spotless. There is an outlet for electric razors by the rightmost sink. There are paper towel dispensers underneath the mirrors at every sink. There is a touch screen monitor that lets you rate the cleanliness of the bathroom. All along the terminal there are 'travelators' which are the treadmill type things on the floor at airports. Dad and I noticed a free leg massage thing. You sit down on the bench, and in front of you there are these cloth sacs that you put your lower legs into. The advertisement for it said "Experience pain with pleasure" or something similar. We were too scared to try it out.

    We got onto a Skytrain, a train system that goes from terminal to terminal, to go to Terminal 1 to get onto the MRT, the local subway system. Before we could get onto the MRT, we had to deal with customs. Because of our trip to the bathroom, we were practically last in line for Customs. It was very orderly. There was a separate line for Singaporean citizens, and once that line was empty, anyone could go into that line. We got through customs in around half an hour.

    We headed downstairs to the MRT station and got three-day passes to travel throughout the city. The MRT is an incredibly simple subway system. At every station there is both a map of the whole system and of the line that you are about to get on. There are 4 or 5 different lines that go across the city, and most of the names of the stops are fairly self explanatory. When Dad was asking around work for advice for our trip to Singapore, someone told him, "It takes a few days to figure out the New York Subway, while it takes a few minutes to figure out the Singapore subway." One of the cool things about the MRT trains is that they are really long, and the cars are about 15 meters long, so you can see the curvature of the track by watching the cars bend at the junctions.

     It takes about an hour to get to the stop nearest the hotel. We get out onto the street and are utterly lost. Dad and Rebecca are arguing about which way to go because this map said this, but no one really remembers the map. This went on until a stranger asked if we needed help. She asked us where our hotel was, and pointed us the right way. 

Intramuros

     My Intramuros experience wasn't as super awesome as I thought it would be. Let me explain. Intramuros is the part of Manila that the Spanish initially lived in, and so all of the buildings are old and ornate. There are large, gaudy Catholic churches. We walked through a wealthy person's house with Chinese pottery, marble busts, very well-crafted wood furniture. 

     My poor experience started off with a meal at Pugon Roasters. My dissatisfaction was not with the food, but with the fact that we all overate. In fact, I tasted one of the best culinary ideas ever. It was Shepherd's Pie, but instead of mashed potatoes on top, it was mac and cheese. But it was really filling. And to top it off, Dad and Rebecca wanted to go have coffee and a piece of cake afterwards. The ride over there was pretty neat. Manila Bay was on one side, there was a cool transition from small buildings to high rises, there were big boats, and it was kind of relaxing. 

    The moment we get there, we are hawked at by kalesa (horse-drawn carriage) drivers for them to take us for a ride. The taxi driver dropped us off in front of the San Agustin Church, a World Heritage site. Mass had just ended so we walked around in the museum part of the church. Lots of crucifixes, lots of old biblical paintings, lots of Virgin Marys. I think walking around that church was our second mistake. It was a lot of the same stuff, it was hot, and we had just been to church, so we were getting hit over the head with churchy stuff. 

    

    We then walked in a circle around a block, and wandered into a museum. It was a museum on the houses of the wealthy Spaniards. It was three stories of 15th and 16th century furniture. All wooden, lots of mirrors and fabulous displays of wealth. We left and just walked a couple streets and for the most part were done. 

    Another thing I noticed was that in Intramuros, I saw the poorest people in Manila that I had yet seen. Lots of people lived off of the tourism. There were dozens of pedicabs (bicycle cabs), several with a driver sleeping in the seats. There were chickens everywhere. Most of the shops were tiny little things consisting of a counter with a rack of processed food behind it. I saw a concrete frame of a house with people living in it. No roof, just 2 or 3 concrete walls. 

     If asked again, I would probably come back, because I know that I could have had a better time if it was more structured or if we had some sort of guide. 

Fishing pictures